In materials science, “wear” can be defined as erosion or displacement of material from its original position on a solid surface performed by the action of another surface. Thus, wear is related to mechanical interactions between surfaces, and more specifically, to the removal or deformation of material on a surface as a result of mechanical action of an opposing surface.
In the field of surface engineering, many different test methodologies have been developed in efforts to evaluate wear during the working life of machine components. Specific test methods exist for different types and shapes of components to determine an amount of material removal during a specified time period under well-defined conditions.
The evaluation of wear on a used specimen typically involves measuring changes between the mass and/or surface topography of the specimen before use and the same specimen after use. In a testing environment, these parts can be referred to as pre-test and post-test specimens, respectively.
Conventional topographic wear measurement methods use contact profilometry with a stylus profilometer to obtain surface profiles of pre-test and post-test specimens. The pre-test and post-test surface profiles are obtained from the same area on the test specimen and are overlaid using common features that have not experienced wear or other topographic changes.